IN SHORT

IN SHORT; FICTION

By CONSTANCE DECKER KENNEDY

Published: December 27, 1987

THE FLOOD. By John Broderick. (Marion Boyars/ Kampmann, $22.95.) Forget about plot. John Broderick's latest novel, ''The Flood,'' which is set during the 1930's in Bridgeford, Ireland (population 8,767), boasts such a colorful jumble of characters and voices one barely notices that its story is thin and inconsequential. In this community where drinking in a pub is ''as respectable as going to church,'' the townspeople crowd into the Cafe Royal. There they dawdle, talk and plot to bamboozle an Englishman named Hector Slyne, who wants to buy several parcels of land along the Shannon River, which flows through Bridgeford and, unbeknown to Slyne, floods its banks every winter. Benny O'Farrell, dubbed Fenny O'Barrell because of his majestic girth, presides over the bar and the town, stabilizing their flightier characters. And so, when ''Hosannah'' Braiden, Sarah Jane McLurry and Mrs. ''Pig'' Prendergast raise a ruckus over Slyne's attempt to withdraw from the land deal, it's Fenny who dispenses the drink and quiet wisdom that ease their fears. Keenly interested in all his characters' intricate interconnections and negotiations, Mr. Broderick depicts their strict and quirky provincial protocol in a masterly fashion, exposing the bulk of the interactions among these shopkeepers and servants as pure theater. ''The Flood'' presents nothing to contradict the stereotypical image of the Irish as a charming, hard-drinking, devious, witty and blarneying lot, whose attachment to their social rituals and to the auld sod creates wonderfully human and humorous moments. This is a first-rate comic novel, and its lush characterization and language richly recommend it.